The first batch of ethnic Kachin refugees from Burma arriving for resettlement in Romania are mired in problems of communication and insufficient support from authorities, said the refugees.
Romania for the first time in an arrangement with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) accepted 38 Kachin refugees from Malaysia on May 31 and June 1, so that they can start a new life in the country.
“We are facing language problems because local people don’t speak English,” a refugee told Kachin News Group today.
They are worried about their future given the lack of support from the authorities. Communication problems have compounded matters and they are having difficulties in finding health care facilities, especially for the children. Without identity cards they are unable to do anything, including seeking admission in hospitals.
The refuges have begun to learn the Romanian language and are waiting for identity cards, said the refugees staying at the Regional Centre for Accommodation and Asylum Procedures in Galati, a city in eastern Romania provided by Romanian Immigration Office (RIO).
“We will need over a year to get acquainted with the local language and are worried about the trouble we will face before we can manage by ourselves,” said the refugees. They will get US$ 200 each two months from now for nine months. However, everyone needs to pay US$ 30 as house rent.
Romania is now one of the countries accepting refugees for resettlement where there are a few in the world, said theUNHCR in its official website.
The 38 Kachin refugees including eight children, two single women and the rest married, have been officially adopted by Romania since 2008 December and the country will accept 40 refugees for resettlement every year according to the UNHCR.
They are being supported by the UNHCR and locally based Non Government Organizations (NGOs) like Save the Children Romania, Jesuit Refugee Service Romania and also the Romanian Red Cross.
“Romania’s contribution in this regard is both timely and very much appreciated,” Machiel Salomons the representative of the UNHCR office in Romania, said in the official website.
The UNHCR list in Malaysia says there are 88,100 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UNHCR of whom 81,600 are from Burma, including 38,900 Chins, 18,900 Rohingyas, 6,400 Myanmar Muslims, 3,800 Mon, 3,600 Kachins and the remaining being other ethnic minorities from Burma.
Refugees from other countries in Malaysia are from Sri Lanka, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Over 5,000 ethnic Kachin people are working and living in Malaysia. There are still a lot of people, who are yet to register with the UNHCR, said a Committee member of the Kachin Refugee Committee (KRC) in Malaysia.
Ethnic Kachin people, the majority of whom live in Northern Burma’s Kachin State, began migrating to Malaysia decades ago and the 2009 KRC list showed there are about 300 Kachin refugees resettled in third countries like America, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand.
Kachin people have suffered the fall out of civil war for over 30 years with armed clashes between Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and Burmese troops of the junta and they had no other place to take shelter except in the jungles.
Kachin refugees started fleeing the country only after the ceasefire between KIO and the junta was signed n 1994, to neighbouring countries of Burma like Malaysia, Thailand and India.
